Here’s what I mean: If we took the worst players in the Hall of Fame — say Freddie Lindstrom or High Pockets Kelly or Jesse Haines — and suggest everyone better than them is a Hall of Famer, well, the Hall of Fame would need to purchase a few more buildings to house all the plaques. George Kelly was a 1920s-era first baseman with a career value lower than Mike Hargrove or Mo Vaughn or Kevin Youkilis. That would be a big Hall of Fame.

I do wonder, however, how the recent selection of Jack Morris by the Modern Era Committee will change the future dynamic of electing pitchers. It’s easy to dismiss the poor selections of players such as Kelly and Haines, who played so long ago, as products of a different Hall of Fame, or merely idiosyncratic choices. Heck, most current voters don’t even know who those guys are, let alone use them as any kind of standard.

Morris is different. He’s a more contemporary figure, a better guide for comparison. We either saw him play and remember him, or we can watch his highlights on YouTube and look at his stats and understand the context. When you compare his career to the career of Mike Mussina or Curt Schilling, two pitchers on this year’s ballot, it’s clear those two had far superior careers. How can you have a Hall of Fame with Jack Morris, but not Mussina and Schilling?

Pitcher

W

L

Pct.

IP

CG

BB

SO

ERA

ERA+

bWAR

fWAR

Jack Morris

254

186

0.577

3824

175

1390

2478

3.90

105

43.8

55.8

Mike Mussina

270

153

0.638

3562

57

785

2813

3.68

123

82.7

82.2

Curt Schilling

216

146

0.597

3261

83

711

3116

3.46

127

80.7

79.8

This isn’t even about Morris’ viability as a candidate. His case has been dissected and prodded like a frog in junior biology class. Mussina and Schilling, however, are not going to get elected. According to Ryan Thibodaux’s Hall of Fame vote tracker, Mussina has received 73.3 percent of the public vote and Schilling 66.1 percent.

Those percentages are expected to decline once the final results are announced, with both players falling short of the 75 percent needed to get in. However, both players will likely see their percentages increase over last year. Mussina was at 51.8 percent last year and Schilling at 45 percent, suggesting that Schilling’s controversial political views aren’t costing him many votes. Considering both players have more time on the ballot — this was Mussina’s fifth and Schilling’s sixth appearance — a big jump this year is important. Morris’ election in December may have helped both.

Beyond those two, it’s possible that some of other pitchers who are no longer on the ballot will also be helped by some future special committee. Here are career totals for Morris and some other hurlers from roughly the same era:

Pitcher

W

L

Pct.

IP

CG

BB

SO

ERA

ERA+

bWAR

fWAR

Jack Morris

254

186

0.577

3824

175

1390

2478

3.90

105

43.8

55.8

Kevin Brown

211

144

0.594

3256

72

901

2397

3.28

127

68.5

76.5

David Cone

194

126

0.606

2898

56

1137

2668

3.46

121

61.7

56.0

Bret Saberhagen

167

117

0.588

2562

76

471

1715

3.34

126

59.1

55.3

Dave Stieb

176

137

0.562

2895

103

1034

1669

3.44

122

57.0

43.8

Orel Hershiser

204

150

0.576

3130

68

1007

2014

3.48

112

51.7

48.0

Dennis Martinez

245

193

0.559

3999

122

1165

2149

3.70

106

49.5

49.1

Dwight Gooden

194

112

0.634

2800

68

954

2293

3.51

111

48.2

56.7

Morris’ advantage over the others (except Dennis Martinez) is clear: Longevity and wins (plus Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, although Bret Saberhagen also had a Game 7 shutout). But what’s the value in all those extra innings over those other pitchers? By using the number of additional earned runs allowed, we can calculate Morris’ ERA over those innings — and it doesn’t reflect well on the value Morris provided. Let’s include Mussina and Schilling in this chart as well (leaving out Martinez since he threw more innings than Morris). Here is how Morris compares in various categories over those extra innings:

Pitcher

W

L

IP

ER

HR

CG

BB

SO

ERA*

Mike Mussina

-16

33

261

199

13

118

605

-335

6.85

Curt Schilling

38

40

563

404

42

92

679

-638

6.46

Kevin Brown

43

42

567

472

181

103

489

81

7.48

David Cone

60

60

925

542

131

119

253

-190

5.27

Bret Saberhagen

87

69

1261

705

171

99

919

763

5.03

Dave Stieb

78

49

928

551

164

72

356

809

5.34

Orel Hershiser

50

36

693

446

154

107

383

464

5.79

Dwight Gooden

60

74

1023

566

179

107

436

185

4.98

* ERA based on difference in career IP and ER.

This tells us that, sure, Morris won 38 more games than Schilling and pitched 563 more innings, but he compiled a 6.46 ERA over those extra innings. What this chart really shows us is that Hall of Famers overemphasize longevity over career value.

That wasn’t always the case. The view on starting pitchers changed when Gaylord Perry was elected in 1991. Like Perry, the next five starting pitchers elected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America — Tom Seaver in 1992, Steve Carlton in 1994, Phil Niekro in 1997, Don Sutton in 1998 and Nolan Ryan in 1999 — each had 300 wins. That became the de facto standard, and explains why Bert Blyleven with 287 had difficulty getting elected.

Before that group, however, look at the previous starters elected by the BBWAA:

Pitcher

Year

Wins

Jim Palmer

1990

268

Catfish Hunter

1987

224

Don Drysdale

1984

209

Juan Marichal

1983

243

Bob Gibson

1981

251

Bob Lemon

1976

207

Robin Roberts

1976

286

Heck, Sandy Koufax made it with just 165 wins. Anyway, the 300-win standard is finally starting to go away with the recent elections of Pedro Martinez (219 wins) and John Smoltz (213), and now Morris. Other than Mussina and Schilling, I’m not necessarily advocating for any of the above pitchers as Hall of Famers — although Kevin Brown certainly appears to have a strong case — as even Morris’ supporters would agree he’s a weak Hall of Famer. At the minimum, Morris’ election should at least force the next Modern Era Committee to consider pitchers who had shorter careers but much higher peak performances than Morris.